Growth of botnets put IT resources at risk.

Brookcourt Solutions warns companies of the risk of their networks being taken over in the meteoric rise of botnets.

Brookcourt Solutions has warned companies to include the threat of bots taking over their IT resources in their IT security planning, following a seeming plague of the malware-driven problem in recent weeks.

'Research from Sana Security in the US suggests that the malicious Web robot problems has already passed the 400 per cent plus growth rate seen with Rootkits last year,' said Phil Higgins, a senior partner with Redhill-based Brookcourt.

'The problem with bots is that, whilst they've been around as a problem for some time, the developers of this type of malware are now using encrypted and therefore anonymous peer-to-peer technology as a means of communication, making them effectively invisible on a company network,' he explained.

'According to Higgins, whilst Brookcourt's IT support staff can remotely access a company network and detect the presence of bots from the network problems they cause, they can be difficult to detect for anyone not experienced in bot tracking.

'IT managers have enough on their plate already without having to track down invisible bots on their systems. The best solution to the problem is to prevent their installation in the first place and this requires specialist IT security software,' he said.

'Criminal gangs are now out there ready to take control of your company IT resource using this new generation of invisible bots. IT managers need to be aware of this rising new threat,' he added.